Friday, May 11, 2007

Playing With Numbers for a Living!

Today I am going to talk about numbers and should you skim through what I have written and came across the words, "lucky" and "prospers" please read me through before you rush off to punt with my numbers.

A Memory Aid Technique
Do you know that there is a memory technique that will help you remember numbers better? The idea is to build up pictures in your mind through association of things that rhyme with the numbers you want to recall. Example, 3 sounds like "tree", 7 sounds like "heaven", 10 sounds like "hen", etc.

This kind of association is commonly practiced by the Cantonese speaking community in Asian countries. In fact, they are drawn to and are willing to pay extra money for ownership of things that are linked with numbers that are perceived lucky through association of such rhyming.

Choosing the Right Numbers
The most highly favoured number is 8, as spoken in Cantonese, "bat" sounds like "prospers" followed by 3 as "sam" sounds like "life" or "longevity". You can make such lucky numbers more auspicious by saying "10" before it, as "sap" sounds like "must" or "surely" in Cantonese.

Businessmen in Singapore also appreciate the number 5, as in English, "five" sounds like fast (fi) in Cantonese. So, when said with the number 6 in Cantonese, which is "luk", they like to mispronounce them to sound like "fi loh" which means "fast moving or prospering quickly".

If you are in Malaysia, Singapore or Hong Kong, just take a look at the commercial or residential addresses and car number plates the affluent Asians associate with and you will get the picture.

So, doesn't it make good business sense to associate your product with lucky numbers if you are interested in selling them in Asia? What product can you create based on this concept? Swirlinwhirl is what I have created.

Good luck in your new venture.

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